Railworks America

"When push came to shove, though, Union Pacific didn’t have to go out and find locomotives to buy or lease; it had 600 of them in storage already as part of its “surge capacity” to use in just such an emergency. When the railroad retires old locomotives, it hangs on to them, “so can protect the rest of the network,” Union Pacific’s Chief Executive Jack Koraleski said in an interview after his first quarter earnings call on Thursday.

The 550 extra workers Union Pacific brought on board in the first quarter had either been on furlough or standby. It didn’t have to scramble to find them like some competitors did."

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intellig ... on+Pacific

It's a time-honored strategy with them. The primary reason the Big Boys survived as long as they did was due to their being set aside for seasonal perishibles traffic. "We can handle it" is no idle boast on their part.

It's too bad more of our companies here, don't remember the phrase "You have to spend money, to make money" IE it costs to keep extra motive power in storage, but it costs less than buying more in an emergency and having angry customers that may not want to work with you in the future.